January 18, 2012

DCNS and its local partner Boustead Naval Shipyard have won a US$2.8
billion contract to supply six Gowind patrol vessels to Malaysia, in the
type’s first export order. The first corvette will be delivered in
2017, with others following at six-monthly intervals.

In October 2010 Boustead received a letter of intent from the Malaysian
government that requested it to build six second-generation patrol
vessels. Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) was selected for the contract in
early December last year,

January 17, 2012

During an unfortunate incident PAF pilot Squadron Leader Masood Hussain,
who was on posting to Turkey under exchange posting to Turkish Air
Force has crashed while on a routine training mission, with a Turkish
under training pilot. According to a press release issued by PAF here on
Tuesday, a portion of the wreckage of the trainer aircraft has been
found in the sea near Izmir (Turkey).

The Turkish Air Force is carrying
out search and rescue operations. Meanwhile, contradicting news reports
regarding crash of a PAF aircraft in Turkey, a spokesman of PAF told APP
that no PAF aircraft has been sent to Turkey for taking party part in
any exercise or training mission. He, however, said that a trainer
pilot, Squardron Leader Masood Hussain, was sent to Turkish Air Force on
exchange posting.

With work on the Indian navy's future aircraft carrier the INS Vikramaditya now 90% complete, an RSK MiG-29K fighter has been placed aboard the vessel for the first time.

According to Sevmash, the Vikramaditya will start sea trials
in May 2012, with these to involve take-offs and landings using two
industry-owned aircraft. One is a purpose-built MiG-29K, while the other
is a MiG-35D two-seat demonstrator now being modified after the crash
of a MiG-29KUB trainer during trials in 2011.

January 13, 2012

In recent years India has been shifting toward aircraft that would give it the ability to patrol and act at extended ranges. In January 2004, India and Israel signed a $1.1 billion contract for 3 Phalcon airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft, as part of a $1.5 billion tripartite agreement with Russia. With the arrival of its first IL-76 Phalcon, India joined the global ranks of AWACS operators. The aircraft will monitor huge swathes of Indian airspace, intercept communications and log radar frequencies, add some ground surveillance, and help command IAF responses.

At the same time, India moved to implement AWACS capabilities on a 2nd, smaller, platform, in order to provide broader coverage. The goal there is to field a Tier 2 platform based on Embraer’s ERJ-145 jet, and Indian radar and electronics, allowing India to join the global ranks of AWACS designers. Just to make things interesting, their arch-rival Pakistan offers a contrasting case study, with quicker fielding of off-the shelf buys from China (Y-8 based ZDK-03) and Sweden (Saab 2000 Erieye).

January 6, 2012

Turkey will
purchase two F-35 fighter jets and 15 helicopters from the United
States, Defense Industry Implementation Committee (SSIK) said Thursday,
January 5, 2012. The committee said that it authorized the Defense
Ministry Undersecretariat to order the purchase of two F-35 fighter
jets for the Turkish Armed Forces. The fighter jets will be delivered
to Turkey in 2015, the committee added.

January 3, 2012

Washington/Dubai/Abu Dhabi: The US has inked a USD 3.48 billion arms deal that includes sale of as many as 96 missiles to crucial Middle East ally UAE, as Washington gears up for increased tensions in the region with Iran.
While the announcement of the deal came yesterday, at a time of increased tension with Iran, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement that the deal was inked on December 25 when the US and UAE signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for a Foreign Military Sales-configured Terminal High Altitude Area Defence System, valued at approximately USD 3.48 billion.

The announcement came within days of another USD 30 million arms deal with Saudi Arabia, and also close on the heels of the sale of Patriot missiles to Kuwait, the other two staunch US allies in the region.
"This contract will deliver 2 THAAD batteries, 96 missiles, two AN/TPY-2 radars, and 30 years of spare parts, support, and training with contractor logistics support to the UAE," Little said.

January 2, 2012

Nanchang Q-5

The first prototype was completed in 1960.A small team kept the program alive until it was re-opened in 1963, when production was shifted to Nanchang. The first flight finally occurred on 4 June 1965. Series production began in 1969, with squadron delivery starting in 1970.

About 1,000 aircraft were produced, 600 of them being the updated Q-5A. A small number, perhaps a few dozen, Q-5As were modified to carry nuclear weapons; these are believed to retain their internal weapons bay. A long-range Q-5I, introduced in 1983, added a fuel tank instead of the internal weapons bay, compensating for that with the provision of two additional under wing pylons.

Hong-5 light bomber

The H-5 (Hongzha-5, or Hong-5) is a Chinese copy of the Soviet Union/Russian IL-28 (NATO codename: Beagle) twin-engine jet bomber aircraft first introduced in the Soviet Air Force in the late 1940s. China obtained several hundred examples of the IL-28 in the 1950s during the honeymoon period of the Sino-Soviet ally. A licensed production of the aircraft in China was scheduled but the project could not be materialised due to the breaking up of the Sino-Soviet relation in 1960. As a result, Harbin Aircraft Factory (now Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Company, HAMC) was ordered to produce a Chinese version of the IL-28 by reverse-engineering.

The aerial arsenal of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army shrank
by nearly a quarter over the past year, from around 3,400 combat
aircraft to just under 2,600. The best assessment of the secretive PLA, a database managed by Flight Internationalmagazine and updated annually, showed 800 fewer jet fighters in the PLA inventory compared to a year ago.

The reduction reflects "improved data," according to Flight's annual
report, released late last month. The data allowed the report's authors
to remove from the PLA's active rolls a "combined 850 obsolete Harbin
H-5 and Nanchang Q-5 combat aircraft." The H-5 and Q-5 date from the
mid-1960s. It's unclear exactly when the PLA retired the two models.